Sistering
By Elizabeth Cole
“Therefore encourage
one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (ESV)
What
do you do when something needs repairing in your home? Buy a how-to book at
Home Depot? Call your friend Dan? Check the yellow pages? (Do those still
exist?!)
No…you
“youtube” it. Case in point: my dryer stopped working last year, so I searched
Youtube for the most likely reasons, googled the nearest repair supply store,
and installed my new part…with success that every single loved one heard about
for the next two weeks…or months!
So,
I was on youtube recently and found a fascinating video on repairing sagging
joists. Essentially, the best way to fix a joist that isn’t functional alone is
to affix another joist alongside it, nailing the two together in such a way
that the old joist and the new joist together are functional and useful, being
what they were made to be.
That,
in and of itself, is pretty great. But want to know the best part? It’s called
sistering. Yep, the common construction definition of sistering is “To strengthen (a supporting beam) by fastening a second beam alongside
it.” [1]
Sounds
a lot like intentional, relational disciplemaking to me.
I
have this dream that the sisters I love and lead would be in the business of
sistering: of coming up alongside another in long-term, intentional
relationships for the purpose of spiritual strengthening, developing and
building up, supporting and living out what they were made to be. That we’d be
willing to say “no” to other pursuits that have no eternal value to open up the
space and time to invest in another woman’s life…in the lives of children, in
our husbands’ lives. To see value and potential…to love as Jesus loves.
The
Apostle Paul was a master at sistering. He writes to His Roman brothers and
sisters, “I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to
make you strong - - that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each
other’s faith” (Romans 1:11-12). That second part of his longing expresses a profound
truth: the one discipling grows right alongside the one she’s discipling…the
act of sistering is mutually encouraging, each becoming more of who she was
made to be, side-by-side the other, strengthened for God’s call on her life.
Are
you up for some sistering today?
GOING
DEEPER:
1. Whom has God purposefully placed in your life
for you to sister…and are you?
FURTHER
READING:
[1]
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sister.
The concept of spiritual sistering is in Women
of Influence: Ten Traits of Those Who Want to Make a Difference by Pam
Farrel (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press), 2006.
Elizabeth is a wife
with three grown daughters and two sons-in-law, and is the Director of
Connecting at Oakwood Church.
